


Episode 11 - A Small Favor

by stgjr



Series: "The Power of a Name" Series 2 - "Time Lord Triumphant" [6]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005), Multi-Fandom, The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Multiple Crossovers, Multiverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2017-03-23
Packaged: 2018-10-09 15:58:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10415724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stgjr/pseuds/stgjr
Summary: A certain pop culture-quoting building-burning wizard/private investigator calls our narrator, asking him to help with a small favor...





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on May 24th, 2014.

It had to happen eventually.  
  
I knew it the moment I gave him the means to call me, in fact.  
  
My Companions and I were enjoying a little holiday on a resort planetoid and had returned to the TARDIS when the call came into the TARDIS phone. I picked it up. "Hello there."  
  
" _I need a favor, Doc._ "  
  
Straight to business. I immediately had an inkling as to why.  
  
"What is it, Harry?"  
  
On the other end, Harry Dresden replied, " _You know who the Nickelheads are, right? Since you knew about Lash._ "  
  
I drew in a breath. It _was_ what I feared it would be. "Yes, I know who the Denarians are."  
  
" _They have a young girl, Doc._ "  
  
"Ivy," I sighed.  
  
There was a moment of silence on the other end. When Harry started speaking again, I could sense a shift in his emotion to anger. " _So you did know this was going to happen, didn't you?_ "  
  
"Yes, Harry, I did."  
  
" _Then why didn't you Goddamned warn me?! I could have stopped them from..!_ "  
  
I drew in a breath and rested against the rail. "I told you before, Harry. If I gave you knowledge of how the future was going, you would make different decisions, and it would change things. And not necessarily for the better."  
  
" _How do you know that for certain, dammit?! You could make things better!_ "  
  
Harry had me there. I could, conceivably, alter things here and there to give them better outcomes. But then his decisions would change. He wouldn't make the same choices. And when the time came, he might not have the power, through those choices, to stop the horrible things that were still to come.  
  
 _But would he need that power if I was there to help?_  
  
As I thought about that, I realized the answer was still yes.  
  
" _So that's it, Doc? You're going to leave a twelve year old girl to be tortured and abused by the Nickelheads?_ "  
  
My mind flashed to a poor young girl, uncovered in the cold with bruises and cuts all over her, held in mid-air by intricate magics meant to keep her imprisoned while horrible creatures nipped at her.  
  
How could I say no to helping her?  
  
 _How could I not help and continue to be the Doctor?_  
  
I swallowed. "Harry, I will come and do what I can. But there are things that are about to happen that... if they don't happen, it will make things worse in the long run. I promise you, however, that I will make sure we get Ivy away from the Denarians."  
  
Harry was silent. By using "we" I'd reinforced whose side I was on.  
  
"You can't tell anyone I'll be there, though. You need to behave as if I'd said no, like I didn't even exist. Please, Harry."  
  
There was more silence. "Alright," he said. He hung up a moment later.  
  
"Doctor..."  
  
I looked up to see Cami and Janias looking at me intently. I explained, as quickly as I could, the situation; what the Denarians were, what they'd done, what was at risk. I told them who Ivy was; a twelve year old child and the repository of the Archive, a living database of everything ever written down on Harry's Earth, with awesome magical power in addition to that.  
  
"We can't just leave her with them," Janias insisted, snarling. "I say we show up and help Harry fire-blast those things into smears."  
  
"And that would cause changes to his timeline in far greater amounts than rescuing those Air Nomads did in Korra's," I pointed out.  
  
"Doctor, I'm worried about something else." Camilla took a seat on the stairs and looked at me intently. "What if we've already changed how things would progress?"  
  
"Hrm?" I looked at her.  
  
"Well... we weren't exactly unnoticed when we've acted in Harry's world before," she continued. "Korra nearly drowned the Merlin! And we've humiliated the Red Court a few times just by ourselves. The forces of that world know who you are, they have an idea of what you are, and they know that you're friendly to Harry. Anyone coming to Chicago has to be ready to run into you, and if this Nicodemus is half as smart as you make him sound..."  
  
"....then he'll be anticipating my presence," I finished for her. "And will have brought extra resources he otherwise wouldn't have used."  
  
"Exactly."  
  
I drew out a sigh and flopped into the stairs nearby, looking to the girls after I did so. "Damned if I do, damned if I don't."  
  
"If we've already tilted things, why not just go with that?", Janias asked. "Let's just help Harry!"  
  
"There's a difference between taking a plunge and just making sure everything is balanced," I pointed out. "We'll go and observe. If something unexpected happens, we'll address the change, and _only_ the change."  
  
"Doctor, what about the girl?" Janias was still plainly unready to give the matter up. "She should be rescued."  
  
"And she will be," I promised. "Harry will win so long as everything happens as normal." I stood and reached for the TARDIS controls. "We're just going to make sure things go that way."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
I knew better than to bring even a veiled TARDIS too close to the participants, lest we be discovered, so I had to settle for long-range observation. Nevertheless it confirmed for me that things, so far, were going as scheduled. Harry, without any other means to find the Denarian base, had made Nicodemus an offer he couldn't refuse: Ivy for the coins of the Denarians that had been defeated at the Shedds Aquarium and _Fidelacchius_ , the Sword of Faith, entrusted to Harry to find a new wielder after the last one died fairly gruesomely, at the Denarians' hands no less. Of course, Nicodemus would have no plans to honor the exchange, and Harry knew that, but going through the motions would involve letting Harry and the others be brought out to where they were keeping the Archive prisoner. An island in Lake Michigan, a very particular and special island that had a looming role to play in Harry's future.  
  
So I made sure that Harry, Michael Carpenter, and Michael's fellow Knight Sanya, a black-skinned Russian man wielding _Esperacchius_ , were on their way to the "exchange", aka the Trap. Insert your Admiral Ackbar joke here. I know Harry would.  
  
Then, to be certain, I made sure that Thomas Raith's little houseboat and Miss Gard's Huey helicopter were on their way as well.  
  
And so we shifted to the island itself. It was easier said than done; the field around the island was tricky to bring the TARDIS through, and I only managed it as far as I did because I brought it in high enough that I wouldn't be breaching what was inside the island. Instead, with all stealth measures engaged, I landed it quietly at the back of the hillside that dominated the island, where the Denarians were already gathered with their armed soldiers.  
  
Janias' face twisted into horror and anger. "Doctor, there's so much darkness here, I... how can something like this exist?"  
  
"It's from a wellspring of dark power on this island," I explained. "I dare not explain more."  
  
"I feel her," Janias continued. "She's so afraid... Doctor, please, let's go get her."  
  
"Can't," I answered. "There's too many of them. Even with Harry and the Knights we wouldn't have the advantage, and it would change too much if we did. Harry will be doing that. We will be making sure they didn't add further surprises for Harry."  
  
"Really? They're that powerful?"  
  
Jan nodded and answered before I could. "Each one has more darkness than any Sith Lord I've ever seen. And I'm not sure they're any weaker than Malgus and probably stronger."  
  
Cami turned a little pale. She remembered Malgus too.  
  
I didn't dare leave the TARDIS, especially when I heard footsteps coming through the forest of the island. Armed men came up within twenty feet of the TARDIS, and faced the hillside. They had been carrying something, but I hadn't made it out.  
  
"I think the show is about to start," I murmured.  
  
From where we were, there was no seeing the actual hill, so all I could make out were the sounds of people walking and talking. Soon enough I heard the familiar baritone of Harry and, after that, another voice, calm and level and quite sharp.  
  
Nicodemus Archleone, leader of the Denarians. And someone that even a Time Lord would definitely _not_ want to cross if it could be helped.  
  
I suddenly found myself wishing I'd invited Korra. Or Commander Shepard. Or, frankly, _all of them_. Because if this turned bad... I might do some damage with the sonic disruptor, and Janias could definitely tear through the mortal gunmen, but the Denarians were fearsome combatants that were extreme dangers to Harry and his friends, and as far as combat goes I'm honestly not that effective at anything but running and playing with technology.  
  
Harry's voice began to rise, to the extent that we could all hear him. He demanded Ivy's release. One of the female Denarians pointed out that they could just take the Swords and coins from him, and played up the idea that he was actually under Lasciel's control still (Lash, that is, the Fallen Angel that Nicodemus had plotted to slip into Harry's brain to corrupt him. It hadn't worked very well).  
  
"Doctor, he's losing his temper," Cami murmured. "That's not good."  
  
"No, he's not," Jan explained for me, undoubtedly sensing his emotions through the Force. "He's... acting?"  
  
"Nicodemus was trying to bait him, and Harry is playing along to buy time."  
  
I heard Nicodemus order "Kill them!"  
  
A moment later, bright orange and red light erupted from the hillside.  
  
"By the Force, what was..."  
  
"A surprise flare to catch them off guard," I remarked. "And a signal flare for that helicopter."  
  
A fight briefly broke out and, from the distance, we could hear the sounds of it and the occasional flash. I kept my eyes on the armed men nearby, knowing they were oblivious to us thanks to the TARDIS. They hadn't moved yet. But they were fussing with the package they'd brought.  
  
There were more flashes of energy in the distance. "Now he _is_ mad," Janias remarked, even as Harry's screams of outrage filled the night air. I felt energy shift and tremble. He was destroying the Archive's prison.  
  
Then there was a burst of purple energy and an angry howl in the air as the prison failed. "I... I thought I saw faces," Janias murmured.  
  
"Possibly," I agreed. "I'd rather not know."  
  
Quiet resumed, followed by gunfire focused on the tower and some cracks of gunfire from it. When it was over Nicodemus' voice filled the night air. "Dresden!"  
  
"What's he doing?"  
  
"Offering Harry his life if he gives everything up," I replied.  
  
"He doesn't know Harry," Janias said, smirking.  
  
"Shh." I was focused on the nearby men, who were still crouched in preparation. They had yet to act.  
  
And then I heard strings in the air, soon joined by horns. I smiled.  
  
"Is that... music?" Cami asked.  
  
"Wagner's 'The Ride of the Valkyries'," I replied. "Miss Gard's well-chosen _leitmotif_."  
  
From the eastern end of the island the Huey helicopter we'd watched take off flew in. At the side door a man - one of Marcone's lead henchmen - opened fire with a mini-gun and wrecked havoc on the Denarians' mortal followers and, I suspected, their numbers as well.  
  
From the angle I saw a winch lowering a harness. As it turned out, so did the armed men, who brought up the objects from their package.  
  
And despite the sleet and gloom, I could just make out the box shapes of shoulder-carried man-portable anti-air missiles. Firing from what would be the blind side of Harry and his allies.  
  
"You were right, Cami," I breathed, pulling the sonic screwdriver out. "Jan, they've got anti-air, we need to take them out!"  
  
Janias pulled her lightsaber and jumped from the TARDIS entrance. The lightsaber slashed cleanly through the launchers and the limbs holding them. The screams that came from the armed men had a bizarre sound to them, the kind of wail that can only come when you don't have a tongue to change the sound from your mouth.  
  
"Doctor, there are more!", Janias shouted.  
  
"Stay with the TARDIS, Cami!" I brought out the sonic disruptor as well and charged into the sleet. I had the foresight to be wearing my purple parka - this at least didn't make me look like the Joker - over my suit, and it kept me warm against the chill on the island. The island was dark and it was hard for even me to see, but I had Time Lord senses and Janias had the Force. We spread out, not needing to speak a word in coordination, and went after the other fire teams carrying missiles and, as it turned out, rocket-propelled grenades.  
  
I used a sonic burst to disarm the nearest fire-team and then the second-nearest, with follow-up shots from the sonic disruptor to send the armed men down so I didn't get shot. Behind me there was an explosion; Janias had used the Force to, presumably, cause a grenade to explode prematurely, taking out the armed men firing it.  
  
I glanced to the hilltop. The new angle meant I could see the helicopter. There was a figure in the harness, actually a figure holding something, and almost up to the helo itself. Harry and the others were looking toward the direction of the explosion.  
  
I looked back in time to see another group of men, hidden enough that I hadn't seen them yet, firing a missile at the helicopter. As flame erupted from the launcher I had my sonic up and whirring. The missile corkscrewed in the air, narrowly missing the helicopter, and exploded in mid-air safely beyond it.  
  
With a sonic burst I put down the men who had nearly killed the people on the aircraft and scanned the gloom for more. I saw movement further down and ran toward it. A single object began to pop out from the brush and, this time, I would not let them fire. I used the sonic to send off a strong thermal pulse, enough to...  
  
The explosion flowered along the hillside, setting trees aflame and, it had to be said, killing the men with the weapons instantly. The flames were a beacon of light and warmth in the sleet and gloom of the island and I allowed the crackling fire to dance over my vision, close enough that I could be seen from the hilltop. I looked up.  
  
Harry was looking down, toward the fires, and thus toward me. I could make him out from what was left of the lighting on the hill-top; he could see me far more easily and know who it was. I nodded at him. He returned the nod and turned to accept an object from the second man going up the line.  
  
I almost yelled a warning. I knew the Denarians would pounce soon, that Nicodemus' treacherous wife Tessa and her lieutenant would strike as Harry sent Michael up the line. Michael would be gravely wounded, permanently crippled in fact, and the helicopter damaged, forcing Harry to fight his way off the island. If I went up there I could prevent it...  
  
I could change what was about to happen.  
  
I could save Michael Carpenter from his fate.... a fate that, on consideration, was almost a divine blessing, an act of God to reward a servant by giving him relief from his heavy burden. Instead, by acting, I could cause the Denarians to change targets. They might kill Sanya instead. They might kill Harry. Kill me permanently with a fatal wound during regeneration.  
  
Or kill Janias, who would undoubtedly rush to aid me.  
  
That was the problem with events like these. I had the burden of knowing how they should go and how meddling could make the outcome worse instead of better. But that meant inaction, and allowing painful things to happen.  
  
I turned and ran back into the forest. _Jan, get back to the TARDIS, NOW_ , I thought, feeling her mind probing mine.  
  
 _Already there_ , she replied.  
  
I sighed. I'd done what had to be done. It was time to stand back and let events play out as they needed to.  
  
  
  
  
We stayed in the TARDIS for the rest of the night, observing from sufficient distance how everything went. We remained in mid-air as Harry piloted the boat he'd been brought in on out to the reef and, from there, left the failing craft to get into his brother's houseboat.  
  
White light erupted from the figures struggling in the dark below, forcing me to close my eyes. We could hear one of the Denarians shrieking in despair before retreating. When it was over, Janias had a shocked look on her face. "Doctor, what was that?", she asked softly.  
  
"A job offer," I replied.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Karrin Murphy grabbed _Fidelacchius_ and pulled it from the scabbard," I explained further. "A very important event. Now you see why I couldn't just intervene.".  
  
"Because that wouldn't have happened." Camilla nodded.  
  
"Exactly." I sighed. "Still, we're not done yet."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"We have one more stop to make," I explained.  
  
  
  
  
I swapped my blue coat for a white one to fit in, with Jan and Cami in nurse scrubs, before we stepped out of the TARDIS in an empty room in the Stroger hospital. With my psychic paper held open and clipped to my coat and Janias subtly influencing others walking by us, we evaded attention until we arrived in the ICU's prep room for patients between surgeries. I presented myself as a specialist looking up a new patient for a consultation and the nurses, busy as they were, didn't think much of letting me in to the room.  
  
It was empty for the moment with just the unconscious patient. I walked up and looked over the wounded body of Michael Carpenter and lowered my head. I could have saved him from this... but I had not. In the name of the timeline, and of his family and a much-deserved retirement, I'd left him to be hurt. Crippled.  
  
I heard a sniffle behind me. Camilla was crying. Janias was starting to weep too. I wasn't surprised. The Carpenters had treated them almost like adopted daughters on the occasions we'd seen them. Janias saw Michael as the exemplar that all Jedi Masters should seek to match.  
  
I looked back to Michael and put my hand on his. "I'm sorry, Michael," I whispered, trying to keep the tears from my eyes as well. I brought up my sonic and ran it over his body. So far the damage was what I expected, but I wanted to make sure....  
  
Brain damage, more than I expected. But something I was prepared for.  
  
I reached into the lab coat and brought out a transmat injector filled with a regenerative agent I'd acquired from Layom Station. I injected it directly into his carotid. It wouldn't be kept in the bloodstream to show up on blood tests, thankfully; it would find damaged and destroyed cells and be absorbed by them, damaged cells would be healed, dead cells would be used as raw material to form new living ones. The dose I gave would be sufficient to ensure Michael, while crippled, had his faculties. He would not be reduced in mind as he was in body.  
  
"Doctor..."  
  
Janias' strained voice made me look up. Against all expectations, a custodian was at the doorway, a face mask dutifully applied. The old man pulled the mask down, smiled at me, and nodded.  
  
I noticed that the name tag read "Jake". And I drew in a breath, not saying anything as he continued on with his cart.  
  
"H-He... he wasn't..." Janias was stammering. "W-What was...?"  
  
"He works for Michael's boss," I answered quietly. "Let's just leave it at that."  
  
  
  
  
After we left, Jan and Cami made a request of me; they wanted to wait with the Carpenters. So I materialized the TARDIS outside and let them go in while I remained outside. I... couldn't face Charity and the children right now, not when I was the one who could have spared them this heartache. I simply stood in the snow and waited, thinking to myself of the conundrum of this situation.  
  
"Doctor."  
  
The voice made me spin, unnatural as it was. I looked further down the alley I had parked the TARDIS in and found...  
  
The figure in front of me was female, in a dark blue business suit detailed with diamonds. Lapis decorated the ivory sticks that held the braided bun of long white hair on her head. She was hauntingly beautiful, lips a faint red, and eyes like a cat...  
  
Fitting, since there was a cat in front of her, and even in the twilight of the alley I could see the creature was a muscular thing, larger than a bobcat or a lynx.  
  
My voice froze in my throat. I knew who this was, I _knew_. Among other things, she was the reason that the city was snowing so early in the year.  
  
Mab.  
  
Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness, reigning monarch of the Winter Court of the Sidhe.  
  
Mab, one of the incarnate forces of this cosmos, a being beyond the powers of anything I'd yet faced.  
  
I forced myself to swallow and, despite the stiffness in my back, executed a courtly bow. "Your Majesty."  
  
"Your respect is well-considered." Her lips moved, but the voice came from the feline with her. A malk, I recalled. Grimalkin, in this case. "I am not unaware of your connection to Harry Dresden, Doctor. You have played a part in these events and bringing them to my satisfaction. I thought to express my thanks to you."  
  
I knew better than to believe that, but I also knew better than to be brutally honest about it. "Thank you for your gratitude, Your Majesty," I replied, waiting for the other shoe to drop.  
  
It did. "I sense your mind has been taken from you," she said through Grimalkin, its voice making the words even creepier. "What would you give to have it returned?"  
  
"Pardon me, Majesty?"  
  
Mab smiled at me. It was a very chilly smile. "I have the power to remove that lock on your mind, Doctor. I can return the memories and knowledge within to you. You would be whole again."  
  
At that, I drew in a breath. To remember who I was, to remember what I was, to have my memory returned... "And what would you want in return?"  
  
"Three favors, of course," she replied. "You would be permitted to select which ones to fulfill, and would face no form of compulsion to take any individual request."  
  
In other words, the same deal she imposed on Harry, with some changes to terminology.  
  
For a moment I thought on it. There was a lure to having those memories back, yes. Mab undoubtedly sensed that bewilderment in my mind, always under the surface, of having so much of my life locked away from my thoughts. I had gone through so much pain and confusion as those memories drained away, pulled into the memetic box that held them from me.  
  
But if I was going to get those memories back.... there was no way I would do so in a deal with Mab. I, quite frankly, was not that foolish. You don't make deals with beings like Mab. _Ever_.  
  
"I thank you for your consideration, Majesty, but I must decline," I answered as politely as I could. "Whatever I once was... that life is beyond me now. I have become something more. I'm the Doctor now."  
  
"You say that now," she answered. Mab's expression became bemused. "But I think you will regret it soon enough. What will happen, Doctor, when your pretty young friends are gone?"  
  
I frowned. I didn't like the sound of that. "My friends?"  
  
"That dear green girl and her lover. They're your last link, aren't they? To the Humanity that was stripped from you." Mab laced her fingers together. "What do you think will happen when you lose them? When they decide to leave you? Or when you provoke the wrong foe and they die as a consequence?"  
  
I remained silent.  
  
"You will be alone," Mab continued. "With nothing but the path ahead, to be walked without someone by your side who would understand what was done to you."  
  
I swallowed. "I'll deal with that when it comes, Your Majesty."  
  
The bemused smile remained. "It is your choice, Doctor. The offer will remain open to you. Although the cost will not."  
  
And like that, Mab was gone, leaving me alone with my thoughts and fears.  
  
I had known for a long time I would one day lose Jan and Cami, even before Death gave me that stark reminder by showing me their lifetimers. Having Mab remind me of it forced me to consider it again, as much as I didn't want to. Especially her questions about what would happen when I lost them.  
  
They were questions I couldn't bring myself to even think of answering.  
  
  
  
  
That night at the hospital Jan and Cami remained until the morning, waking me and letting me know Michael had awoken from the surgeries and was talking.  
  
I didn't tell them about my conversation with Mab. I didn't want them frightened.  
  
I decided to give Harry space by staying away for a time after the incident, shifting us ahead so that we would be around for when Michael returned home. Jan and Cami went with Molly and her mother to shop for the supplies for the coming home party, using a special credit card I'd rigged up (yet more of my irresponsible inflation of the local economy, I freely admit). This left me to show up at Harry's door and have a talk.  
  
To try and lighten the mood, I brought beer. Not a very Doctor-y beverage, but one must account for other's tastes.  
  
We went into the basement, Harry's lab, and each took a bottle. Harry eyed it and finally smiled. "Good stuff. What is it?"  
  
"Timbiqui Dark," I answered. "From another cosmos, interstellar Human civilization and all. I received it as a gift from a ruler there."  
  
"Alien beer?"  
  
"Alien world, but made by Humans," I pointed out.  
  
"Good enough." Harry took another quick swig. "Not as good as Mac's, but acceptably close."  
  
"I have yet to partake," I admit.  
  
"We'll have to fix that one day."  
  
There was silence at that point. I pulled something out of my pocket. "Is Bob around?"  
  
Harry looked up at the spirit's skull, surrounded as always by bad romance novels. The eyes lit up. "Heya Doc. Is it time for me to say 'I told you so'?"  
  
"Not yet," I remarked wryly. I walked up and placed the data disc in front of him. "Can you actually... access this?"  
  
"Hrm. I could try. What's on it?"  
  
"It's something called Vaenia," I answered. "I thought you'd appreciate it."  
  
Light from the skull played over the disc. "Is this... oh _wow_ Doc, are you into...?"  
  
"I got it for you, Bob," I pointed out. "Although I suspect Jan and Cami have a copy too."  
  
"Oh yowza, I bet they do!"  
  
"What is it?", Harry asked from his chair.  
  
"Asari pornography," I answered wryly. "They're a mono-gendered species so they all look female. Bob, can you take a quick look at..."  
  
"Your head, Doc? Sure. Got to respect a guy who gives me something this juicy. Harry's been skimping lately."  
  
"I told you, that author missed her deadline and the book's delayed," Harry retorted.  
  
"Whatever...." Bob's light-up eyes focused on me again. "Yeah, it's... box is shut, Doc. Slammed shut, padlocked, and dropped into concrete. Even Molly at her best potential couldn't even begin to break that."  
  
"It's what I thought," I sighed, rubbing my forehead.  
  
"So do you even remember being Human?"  
  
"No. Jan and Cami remind me I was, and that's how I know." I went back to my chair. "I've been looking around to see if anyone could stop it, but none have been able."  
  
Harry looked up from the beer bottle in his hand. "Sorry to hear that."  
  
I nodded and drew in a breath. "Mab says she can do it."  
  
Harry's eyes widened and he had to swallow hard, so hard that if he hadn't I suspected we would have been showered in Timbiqui Dark. " _Mab approached you?!_ "  
  
"At the hospital, while the girls were up with you. She offered me a bargain, three favors and she would break the lock and restore my memories."  
  
"Doc, don't tell me you actually agreed...?!"  
  
I rolled my eyes. "Of course not, Harry," I scoffed. "I may be prone to arrogance and the occasional act of uppity foolishness, but I'm not _that_ far gone to think I can risk letting Mab in my head, or getting in her debt."  
  
Harry sucked in a breath. "You don't want to get mixed up with the Sidhe, Doc. You just _don't_." He had real heat in his voice, heat I knew was earned by harsh experience with the subject matter.  
  
"I have no intention to start." I looked at Bob, curious on a point. "Could she do it? As a matter of curiosity _only_ , Harry."  
  
"If you could trust her to, yeah, she might," Bob replied. "Of course, she might tear your mind to bits in the process. Blocks like that don't break easy, Doc, and it's not good to have someone wielding sledgehammers in your brain like that. Especially if the one holding the hammer is _Mab_."  
  
"I thought so." I drew in a breath and took a drink of Timbiqui. It _was_ rather good.  
  
Silence reigned for a while, save Bob's hoots as he enjoyed "Vaenia". Harry and I kept looking away from each other until he sighed and sat up. "Okay, let's stop avoiding this."  
  
"Always like you to take the direct approach, Harry."  
  
"Yeah." He looked at me, conscious to avoid locking eyes so we didn't accidentally soulgaze. "Doc, I have a question and I'd like you to answer."  
  
"Ask away."  
  
"In... whatever manner you know of what's happened in my world, and what's going to happen, was anything different from what actually happened on the island when we saved Ivy and Marcone?"  
  
I looked toward him and nodded.  
  
"What was it?"  
  
"Those RPGs and anti-air missiles," I replied.  
  
"You mean that in the version of events you knew, he didn't bring that firepower?"  
  
"No, he didn't." I sighed. "And before you carry on, Harry... yes, I believe he brought it because of me. Cami has already pointed out to me that my actions on your world mean the forces here are going to start taking me into account in their plans."  
  
Satisfied, Harry leaned back a little in his seat. "So where does this leave us?"  
  
"You mean to ask if this means I'll turn down helping you to keep events from changing, even if they're already changing?", I asked pointedly.  
  
"Exactly. If you'd just come along, we could have all piled in the TARDIS and gotten off the island after we freed Ivy. Michael wouldn't have gotten shot, I wouldn't have nearly gotten killed several times over, and...."  
  
"...and Karrin would never have pulled _Fidelacchius_ , revealing her ability to wield it," I finished for him, looking intently at him as I continued. "You never would have met Eldest Gruff and won his respect with your bravery and clever thinking. Nor would you have taken Nicodemus down as you did. Michael would be okay, yes, and in turn he would have avoided earning the one retirement from his duties that lets him be with his family. And you and I both know the usual retirement for Knights of the Sword."  
  
Harry glared at me, clearly irritated that he hadn't yet thought that chain through completely. "Okay, yeah," he finally conceded. His eyes narrowed. "Wait, 'take Nicodemus down'? I left him for dead, Doc. You're telling me he _survived_ that?!"  
  
I drew in a breath. "I believe so."  
  
"You _believe_.... what does that mean?! You can't even tell me if he's..."  
  
"Dammit Harry!", I shouted. "I don't know _everything_ about your future! I only know _some_! So I don't know what changing the events I do know about can and will do to your future! And I can't even go into the future to look without meaning I can't come back and help because if I see how the timeline's going, and I change something in it that became a fixed point... well, Harry, take your pick. Do you want to see your cosmos' time space-continuum crunch down to a single point in time and then degrade into oblivion, or do you want to have bat-monsters showing up to eat everyone? I've heard of both flavors of Critical Existence Failure... and if you want to know what that is, ask Butters, he's got the Internet."  
  
Harry rolled his eyes. "So you're just going to sit back whenever the going gets tough around here and I need help?"  
  
I sighed deeply at that, trying to reign in my frustration. "No, Harry. It just means I have to be _careful_ about how I help you. I came to the island to make sure everything turned out as it should. I saw the change and I accounted for it. I restored the balance in the situation. I will make sure that the same stands for the other events to come, as far as I know what's going to happen."  
  
"And after?"  
  
"Then..." I sighed. "I'll do whatever I can to help."  
  
Silence came in again, Harry mulling my words while I didn't want to reignite the argument. As I thought about it, I came upon an analogy that could work. "Harry, given your love of pop culture, I'm sure you've heard of Star Trek?"  
  
He looked at me with a "duh" expression. "More of a Star Wars guy myself but yeah, I know all about Captain Kirk and co."  
  
"What about Picard?"  
  
"The bald English guy with the French name?" He shrugged. "Didn't catch that one as much, but I know about him."  
  
"Do you recall a story, then, about Picard? About how his artificial heart was failing and was going to kill him? And how he was offered a chance to change his past, make it where he never lost that heart?"  
  
Harry searched his memory. "Yeah, I think I remember that one." He frowned. "It messed his life up. He became a measly little science guy instead of a captain."  
  
"Yes, and in the end he decided he'd rather die than live that life. The story was called 'Tapestry', because when he pulled at the loose thread in his life, it unraveled the whole design. I could do the same thing to you if I'm careless about how I help you. If I say the wrong word, allude to the wrong event, do the wrong thing... I could unravel the whole tapestry. It would have consequences far beyond whatever good I might do in the short-term. And so I have to be careful, Harry. I'm not saying I won't do anything, I just have to be careful about it."  
  
Harry said nothing, focusing on finishing his bottle. "I get it, Doc, I do. I just... I know things are going to get worse, and I wouldn't mind the extra backup."  
  
"I understand entirely. And I'll be here to help in any way I can. Just, please, understand why I can't just swoop in on every situation and change events."  
  
"Yeah, I understand."  
  
I said nothing at that point. I could tell I'd gotten through to him on the matter, but I knew it wasn't settled.  
  
Because I knew what was going to happen soon enough. I knew about the little girl whose very existence would change his life forever and how he wouldn't give a damn about how many loose threads were pulled in the process of saving her. And I knew that I would be getting another call from him when that time came.  
  
What I would do about it... I didn't know, and I would spend a long time considering, up until the very moment I got the phone call that would lead me to Chichen Itza on that fateful night.  
  
As much as that seems a suitably dramatic ending to this, Harry provided levity. His head came back and a confused look came to his face. "Wait, due to all of that six dimensional stuff... doesn't that mean you've met Kirk and Picard and such?"  
  
"Um, no. I've met Sisko, though." I smiled thinly. "I don't really get to see the Starfleet types. The Federation's Department of Temporal Investigations, their time police if you will, don't really like me."  
  
"Oh yeah? Bet you get them really worked up with all that time travel."  
  
"Like you wouldn't believe. Gariff Lucsly treats me like Morgan used to treat you."  
  
Harry winced. "Ouch." He looked at the time. "They should be picking Michael up from the hospital now."  
  
"Ah? Well, let's get over there then." I smirked. "I'm driving."  
  
"I'm not letting you touch the _Blue Beetle_ 's wheel, Doc. Given that accent you'll probably drive on the wrong side of the road."  
  
"Cops won't pull me over for shifting the TARDIS after drinking," I reminded him.  
  
"Oh yeah...."  
  
  
  
  
That night, Michael's welcome home party was, well, a blast. Mab was gone, but the atmosphere hadn't yet settled down and there was still snow on the ground from a fresh snow-fall in the morning.  
  
Which meant, well.... snowball fight.  
  
So the Carpenter kids set up their snow fortresses and began flinging their cold projectiles across the backyard while we adults tended to Michael. He would be wheelchair bound for a while, but he was looking otherwise healthy. He happily accepted our presence and let Janias and Cami give him warm, tearful embraces.  
  
I clasped his arm. "I'm sorry, Michael," I murmured.  
  
"It was as our Father intended," he assured me with a small smile. "Thank you for helping. I knew Harry was not telling the whole truth when he said you wouldn't be coming."  
  
"I asked him to say that. Couldn't let knowledge of my presence change how things were going."  
  
After the early dinner, complete with Charity's admonitions to her children to clean up from the snowball fight, we all took to the backyard where Harry decided to have a projectile defense training session for Molly. She managed to stop four snowballs on each volley, getting some pointers not just from Harry but Janias, who responded to a volley from the Carpenter children with a gentle Force push that burst all the snowballs in mid flight. The children laughed and booed.... and Janias shrieked as Camilla, smiling, put a handful of snow down her collar.  
  
This triggered a general free-for-all, thankfully not interrupted by gruffs, that I stood away from. Charity walked beside me and looked up. "You're doing well, Doctor?"  
  
I swallowed and nodded. "We're getting along, yes."  
  
"It's good to see the girls laughing like that." She eyed me. "You didn't have snowball fights as a child?"  
  
"I..." My head ached faintly as I probed my thoughts along the memetic box holding my memories of my Human life. "...I don't remember, Charity. My memories of my past were taken from me."  
  
"I'll pray you get them back, then," she said.  
  
I saw the smile on her face and twisted, my sonic up and active. Gentle sonic waves intercepted and dispersed the volley of snowballs thrown my way by the children. I clicked my tongue. "Sorry, little ones. I'm a bit too fast for that."  
  
"Spoil sport!" Janias concentrated and used a Force push to send a burst of snow from the ground and toward me. I brought up the sonic disruptor and projected a sonic burst that blew it around me.  
  
"Ha!", I shouted in triumph... seeing the smirk on Janias' face a moment too late to realize....  
  
Snow suddenly went down the back of my collar, courtesy of a veiled Molly, who left footprints in the snowy ground as she ran laughing. I danced about, trying to shake it loose...  
  
....and soon faced Janias' smirking face, a similar smirk on Harry's face as he brought his hand up to a large pile of snow beside him...  
  
" _Forzare!_ "  
  
....and then I saw nothing but white as I was struck by a solid wall of will-propelled snow, enough to knock me over and just about bury me. As I tried to get back up the Carpenter children pounced, shrieking victory and stuffing snow down my parka collar.  
  
"Alright!", I shouted, laughing. "This means war, Harry! War!"  
  
"Bring it on, Doc!"  
  
And so the Great Snow War commenced, and we laughed and shouted as the sides shifted and changed until, ironically, Harry and I were struggling to get the snow out of our jackets under attacks directed by Jan, Cami, and Molly.  
  
We laughed and played long into the night, a night I will always remember with a smile.  
  
  



End file.
